Friday, May 5, 2006

Flat hunting…not for the weak

After weeks of being disappointed, I finally found a flat for next year. Originally we (my mate Kirstin and I) were supposed to move into a four bedroom flat near Hillhead, but we had numerous setbacks trying to fill the other two rooms…we got really close near the end, but it all fell apart. Next, we found a two bedroom flat not far from the university campus and immediately filled out the application forms and returned them the same day. However, the landlord decided to go with some other people. After scrambling around and looking in the housing books at the Accommodation Office, we finally wrote down a couple of leads and began to call. In the end, only one flat was still available, and it turns out that she had just placed the ad one hour before we called, so good timing on our part. This was Thursday, and we made an appointment for Friday to view the place. I had to email my tutor and tell him that I would have to leave my tutorial ½ hour early, so that I could make the appointment. We walked to George Street and tried to find the building. The landlord had told us that the flat was in a building called the Belfry, which was in actuality a converted church! I couldn’t believe it, how cool would it be to live in a converted church building? So, we were walking along trying to find the building, and I couldn’t remember the exact address, but when we saw this large stone building with spires, we just knew that this had to be the place. It turns out that we were right! When the landlady showed up we went inside to have a look. Flat 15 is on the 2^nd floor, so we only had to walk up two flights of stairs…not too terrible. The flat was gorgeous! It was fully furnished (which many of the properties in Aberdeen, and even the UK, are) and immaculately clean. It had two bedrooms, one bath, a living room (which is a rarity over here) and a kitchen with a washer and dryer. The bedrooms are fairly standard, and have double beds (again, a rarity), but it was the living room that sealed the deal for me. My stipulation for finding a flat was that it have a nice living room (after spending the semester cooped up in a single dorm room, I had to have a living room!), and this one did. It had two large leather sofas, end tables, a coffee table and a small little dining room table in the corner with four chairs (kitchens in the UK generally aren’t big enough to eat in). The kitchen has modern conveniences, plus the washer and dryer (which was a big plus…no more hauling my clothes to the laundromat!). Kirstin’s stipulation in finding a flat was that it have a nice kitchen (because she was relegated to doing most of the cooking), and as this one had both of our conditions, we immediately told the lady that we would take it. We signed the lease then and there (a very quick procedure over here) and were told that we could come back and pick up our keys on June 1! Yeah, so now not only do I have somewhere to live for next year, but I won’t have to haul all of my possessions back to MN for the summer and then try and bring them all back to Scotland in September. I’m so excited! Here are two pictures of what the outside of my flat looks like:

Back to main page